THE GREEN EYE MONSTER
by ARCHANGEWOMAN
Summary: After the death of her daugther t'pol has reached her breaking point, can her friends help her trough it and will she find out why archer is such a constant in her life. BETA REQUIRED.


**! BETA REQUIRED!**

"THE GREEN EYE MONSTER"

Part 1

"HER"

The starship enterprise, it primary mission to seek out new worlds and new civilizations to go were no man has gone before, that was pretty much what they did and on this occasion it couldn't be truer, you see on this day it was the day were the xindi were coming, oh not in that way. They were coming to start a dialogue with earth and its allies, even tough many still believed that it was still too soon after the terra prime incident Starfleet believed that it was the perfect time, the conference would be the perfect thing to put behind them that horrible incident.

So Starfleet had organized a meeting of sorts, not only were treaties going to be discussed but this forum would be open for cultural exchanges and so on. the xindi had agreed to this and that is why they were coming, there only request how ever was that Jonathan archer would be the liaison between them, they believed that due to the unfortunately actions they had taken earth wouldn't be ready to accept them so readily. Therefore, the conference was to take place in a neutral planet; as well as a man who held no ill will towards them and understood them, hence why John had been requested.

Unfortunately, for john Starfleet had agreed and send him on his way, his new orders to find a neutral planet or a place that every one could agreed upon, also he was to arrange every thing. The captain of the enterprise was not amused; he had gone from liaison to event planer, lucky for him he did not have to suffer alone.

"How about Vulcan"

Malcolm smile at the frown on the captain is face, he knew that the Vulcan had volunteered to host the little get together, and while at first he had considered it one mention to sharan had informed him that it would not be a good idea.

"Right, so all the aquatics can die of thirst"

"Or have sharan have another one of his fits eh sir"

John smiled at his weapons officer, after the incident with terra prime he had lost both his best friend and his go to person at the same time, trip was devastated and would often seek comfort in the woman he loved; the same could be said about t'pol, she was often found in her room meditating or with trip talking. john knew that it was going to take some time for those two to get there acts together so he had decided to not burden them with what was going on with his life, that's were Malcolm came in. Despite there rough start the man was a surprisingly charming and well manner person; not only that he had brought in hoshi and Travis to the table and for that john could not be more grateful. After the whole expanse ordeal he had been left with no social life what so ever, had no friends to speak of and the crew had even began to avoid him.

He hated to admit it but he knew that he deserved what he got; when he had been given the mission it was clear what he had to do. He had to distance himself from the crew, to not be emotionally attached to any of them because he knew that they could be lost at any minute, so he had pulled away from them. He needed to be cold and indifferent or else he was not going to make it trough that hell, he had to replace the explorer for the soldier and it had cost him. He lost all that he once had and perhaps even his soul, but the price was right, one man is soul in exchange for a whole world. That my friend was a bargain.

"In all honesty sir, when are we going to find a neutral planet?"

Hoshi had a good point, there was not such thing as a neutral planet, and nothing was neutral in space. Shaking his head he wonders if Starfleet has lost his mind assigning him to this mission, he still has to round up the xindi delegates and prepare proper accommodations for them on enterprise.

"Who said that the planet had to be inhabited?"

Travis smiled and they turned towards him, the man had been known for his quirky plans, hell if it were not for him sharan would be dead by now.

"Ok Travis were listening"

"Our solar system has lots of planets sir, we use one of those"

Archer raised and eye brow and turned towards reed who nodded, that was not a bad idea, all they needed to do was place an environmental dome on one of the empty planets and they would have there neutral meeting place. Hoshi smiled and patted Travis on the back that was not a bad idea; archer how ever was looking a bit skeptic. The dome could be transferred with no problem; the set up was another problem. Not to mention that they only had a few months to arrange the whole thing.

"I think we should go with Pluto, it's the only one that has yet to be colonized"

Malcolm smiled at the captain, it seem that he had been out voted.

"Ok then I guess we can work something out, I'll contact Starfleet and let them know"

The three smiled and left his private room, as they left he couldn't help but feel as the old captain and yet the lingering voice on the back of his head reminded him that he could never be that same person, not after the things he had done in the expanse. Closing his eyes, he wonders if that bottle of scotch is still in his room. Turning towards his console, he is about to contact, Starfleet when hoshi chimes in with an incoming message from sharan, accepting the transmission he sees his old friend/rival smiling at him. John returns the smile and for once, he is glad to see sharan at the other side of the screen. out of all of them the andorian was the closest one that could hope to understand him, just like him sharan was force to do thing regardless of the consequences he was a soldier true and true and as such he follow orders, some of which were as unpleasant to the andorian as to archer.

"Greetings pink skin, I was wondering if you could do me a favor"

"Now?"

Even tough archer liked how sharan always got to the point he wished that some times the man had some more tact when asking favors, specially in a time when he knew how swamp his schedule was. As for the blue skin alien, he just smiled at the look the pink skin gave him, he knew what kind of pressures he could be putting on archer but this had not been his idea, these were orders given to him by his commanding officer, they had chosen him because of his closeness to the human. To be truthful he would have rather not put this burden on the man is shoulders but he had his orders.

Archer got the hint that this was more than a favor; something about the way sharan was acting had made his suspect that there was more to his request. He knew sharan for a while now and when things weren't right, his antennas gave away a lot about the man, such as not telling him how he would be even with him. In all the time, that john had known sharan he had never once heard him asking for a favor with out saying something about how he owed him, or how he was indebted to him, it was there game and if this was a favor coming from him then that little game would still be on.

"So I gather this is not an official favor?"

"To me no, but to my government"

Sharan saw the way archer frowned and smirked, it seem that the captain didn't like to be played either; yet understood that he had no choice in the matter. He also knew that there was no way he could refused sharan is request, if he did then he would be judged by his actions, which in turn could jeopardize sharan is career. They had sent sharan because of the closeness he had with him, archer didn't like to be used like this, or have his friend being taken advantage off just because they knew him. He also realized that he had no choice in deciding if he accepted this favor; the imperial guard had taken out the choice.

"Ok sharan what's the favor"

The andorian smiled and his antenna lifted a sing that the captain was pleased and that archer had done the right thing.

"As you know I am part of the andorian delegation that will be assisting the conference, my standings with the imperial guard how ever are not as solid as I would have like them to be"

Archer nodded, good thing he had accepted the man is request, if he had declined they might have taken sharan out of the delegation and he could not afford that, sharan was a strong supporter of an alliance between species.

"I gather some one will be watching you?"

"They don't believe I have andoria's best interest at hand, my friendship with you put me in a some what unpredictable situation. That's why they requested that you meet another of our delegates"

"I see"

The truth was much more and archer was thankful that sharan had told him, he was no fool he knew that this favor had entailed more than it seem, he just didn't know how big it actually was. It seem that this delegate was looking for something, not about enterprise or earth but something about him.

"I'm glad you do pink skin, now all you have to do is be a host to her while she familiarizes with earth culture and such, oh and don't make a fool out of me"

"I wouldn't dream about it sharan"

Shran smirked and shock his head, it seem that even in such serious matters as these the captain could see the humor in it.

"She will transport to your ship at 1800 hours"

"She?"

T'POL

T'pol looked at the crew and wondered if the captain had given an order to leave her alone, so far none of them had come over to express there sympathies. it was strange to be surrounded by such emotional being, she had seen how they rallied with friends and family members when a loss had occurred, even tough it had been a few weeks since the loss of her daughter she was still getting messages from crew members expressing there condolences. Those messages had been the primary reason she had chosen isolation from the rest of the crew, now that she was out of her room; she had believed that as soon as she left it there would be crew members walking up to her and inquiring as to how she was, or expressing how sorry they were at her loss. It seem that her fears had been unfounded.

The crew was being civil and nice with her, it was just another normal day and she wondered if perhaps she should be angry with the captain, the thought however only lasted for a minute. She was a Vulcan, she did not need the emotional support of others and yet she had found herself wishing for it. Looking at the crew around her she wondered how humans deal with there loss and the emotions that came from them, her Vulcan logic had allowed her to take the child is death as an unfortunate thing but the emotions that she had awakened when using trillium had screamed at her.

Every thing was so vivid for her, so new so confusing that for a moment she believed that she was losing her mind, they were so overwhelming and unexpected that she did not know if she could deal with them. Fortunately, for her Charles had been there.

"You should have seen the captain is face"

Turning towards the sound of the voice she saw two crew men talking about the captain, the man who had kept his distance ever since she and trip had buried there daughter.

"I could imagine, I wonder how he is going to deal with her"

Her? That had startled her and for a moment she swore that they had turned towards her, slowly she adverted her gaze and focused on her food in front of her, she did not want to attract unwanted attention towards her. Her ears how ever were now focused on listening in on the two crew men is conversation, she didn't know why but the subject had caught her attention and had spiked her curiosity, despite knowing that it was wrong to eaves drop she found herself unable to block out the conversation.

"Don't know, but the woman wont leave him a minute alone"

The two shared a laugh and a third party came into the conversation, apparently, this woman and the captain were the latest gossip on the ship, and turning towards other conversations, she found that they all shared the same subject, the captain and some woman.

"I hear she has a thing for him"

"She's andorian; I don't think the captain goes for blue skin women"

They shared a laugh and t'pol found herself frowning, was this woman the reason that the captain had yet to visit her and Charles? Her emotions went into over drive and despite her mind telling her to think she could not listen to it, standing up she walks out of the mess hall and ignores hoshi is greeting. Archer was her and Charles is friend he should be more supportive regarding there loss and yet he would ratter spend his time chasing after some andorian woman. The thought sickened her, no andorian woman would even be close to understanding a man like Jonathan, no one understood him like she and Charles did.

In the turbo lift she found herself once again wondering about her actions, she knew that she was emotional but she did not know how to stop herself, she was angry and confused, why had Jonathan abandoned them in there time of need. She remembered trip is hurt, he had cried and she was unable to help him ease his pain just as she was unable to comprehend her own feelings, they had needed his help and he had abandoned them. That was the only logical answer she could come up with; reaching the bridge she saw the surprise look on Lt. Reed, she was given a month's personal leave after all.

"Sub commander?"

"The captain?"

Reed looked at the door that lead to the captain is ready room and t'pol walked straight toward it, before the Lt could say or do any thing the sub commander had disappeared into the small room, looking towards hoshi, he saw the same confused expression on her face. Far as they knew, she had still been in isolation along side trip. Hoshi looked at him.

"Lucky thing Adra is not with the captain"

"Why is that?"

"T'pol looked angry"

Reed frowned, some times, he wished he could tell if hoshi was lying or telling the truth, but one thing was for certain he was never going to play poker with her. Inside the room archer groaned and closed his eyes, he had heard the door to his ready room being opened, there was just not escaping that woman.

"What is it now Adra"

"Adra?"

Jonathan whirled around in his chair and looked towards t'pol, the Vulcan woman saw the surprise on his face, he was clearly not expecting to see her, and the once rational Vulcan glared at him and for the first time the captain of the enterprise was afraid of his first officer.

"T'pol what's wrong?"

"Why have you not come?"

Frowning he tries to stand only to be pushed back to his sit, t'pol now stand before him holding his body down that however was not the most surprising fact. What surprised the captain was not that she was holding him down, but the anger he saw in her eyes and the accusation in her voice, her words did not make any sense or the fact that she was standing before him. The hold on his shoulder became painful and he frowned.

"T'pol what are you talking about?!"

"He needed you and you left him to deal with the pain on his own"

Trip, she was talking about trip and some how he knew that she was also talking about herself, they had misconstrued his actions.

"I didn't, I thought that"

"I needed you!"

"T'POL!"

She heard the voice and frowned, it was Charles is voice, closing her eyes she force herself to focus on it and in a second the captain is room vanished and she was once again in her room with Charles by her side. Taking deep breath she tried to calm herself unfortunately, she was failing miserably, trip seeing the scare look on her face rushed towards her but like so many times before he was pushed aside and she retreated to herself. It had been going on for weeks now and as much as he wanted to be there for her he had realized that she needed help, seeing her like this made him angry that all he had been able to do was put a lit on something that he barely understood.

T'pol was Vulcan yes but she had showed him another side of her and he had hoped that for once he would be enough, that he could take her pain and make her well again, he had been mistaken. The nightmares had gotten worse and her emotions were all over the place; he had failed her and he couldn't help but feel responsible for this. it was he who told the captain that all they needed was time, he remember the way soval had looked at t'pol and how he had offered his assistance, how he had turned him down and told him that they could handle it on there own.

"I-is there an andorian on board?"

The question came out of no were and trip frowned, he was sure that he had never mentioned the woman.

"Yeah, she is staying with us for a couple of weeks"

Trip frowned and wondered how t'pol knew of the woman or for that matter that she was andorian, the Vulcan looked at the floor and frowned, it had been true archer had turned his back on them, in there time of need he had not been there.

"Clinging to the captain I assume"

The anger in her voice took trip by surprised and confused the hell out of him, were had that come from, as far as he could tell none of the crew members had visited them since there return and yet t'pol seem to know what was going on outside of her room. Walking towards her, he saw her anger filled eyes fixed on him and for a moment he wanted to flee the room, her mood swings were unpredictable yes but she had never glared at him; had never looked at him with such hate filled eyes.

"T'pol what has gotten into you?"

"Nothing, just get away from me"

She was disgusted with him, his best friend had all but ignored them and all he could do was stand there with a confused look on his face, what kind of man was he? He should be with the captain right now screaming at him and telling him how he felt and yet here he was just standing beside her, pathetic human.

"T'pol"

"I SAID LEAVE!"

She pushed him to the ground and then fled to the bathroom, she could not deal with him right now, he was infuriating, he should be with archer shouting at him demanding to know why he had not been more supportive, why he had not been there when they needed him. Instead he had been here with her and she was glad, closing her eyes she cursed her emotions and once again tried to push them away, she was not glad that he was here, she was angry, she, she didn't know any more. She didn't know how she was feeling all she knew was that trip had been there for her and all her mind wanted to know was were was archer.

Trip stood behind the close door and shook his head, this had to end, he had to tell the captain that things were getting worse. he had failed to help t;pol and that hurt him more than any thing in the world, he thought and had believed that she would be okay that they would be okay; that they could handle and get trough there child is death; he had been wrong and now t'pol was paying for it. He knew that he had been selfish when he had requested personal leave for him and t'pol, he knew he had made a mistake when he had told the captain that he and she needed to work trough it alone, he knew that now.

Walking out of his room he heads towards john is cabin and hopes that he can help him; he has run out of options. Walking trough the hall ways of the ship he spots crew members looking at him with confusion and sympathy in there eyes. He doesn't need there pity; this is what he was shielding t'pol from, she didn't need to walk around the ship being reminded of there loss every time a crewmember felt the need to tell her how sorry he was for there loss. Reaching the turbo lift he wonders if the captain will be like the others or if he would be somewhat different to there feelings.

Arriving at the captain is cabin he presses the chimed and frowns when it takes a long time to answer, when the door does open he is surprised to see a very sleepy archer on the other side of it, cursing he remembers what time it and apologizes to the captain only to have his old friend answer his apology.

"Trip! Hey no worries what are friend for right, come on in"

The commander smiles and walks inside, it is good to have his friend back and to see the hard man that he had turned to slowly returning to the way he used to be, trip had been scared for the captain for a while. He knew what the captain had given up and how much the mission to the expanse had cost him. He'll the whole crew had been talking about his change, the friendly captain had turned into a closed off and distant one, he didn't spend his night with the crew watching movies or socializing with them any more, all he did was focus on the mission. The man had lost all friends and had even pushed him away, some how trip realized that his words had made john try that much more to stop the xindi.

"I'm sorry john"

The man turned towards him, trip only sees confusion there, same old john he doesn't know what trip is apologizing, and trip wants it that way, because now he has to help him as much as he has to help t'pol. Somehow, he has forgotten who were the ones who were there for him when his sister died and when his daughter died. John had been there from the beginning always ready to listen and lend a helping hand, trip realized that while he had been leaning on him and t'pol for support he had not realized that there were times when they some times needed some one to lean on, that they also needed help. He had tried with t'pol but had failed, he was not going to fail again, not with his john, this was going to be the first step to start over and be there for all of them just like they had been there for him.

"You ok trip?"

"Y-yeah…but, but I need a favor"

"Anything"

The commander smiles, he should have done this in the first place, he should have asked his friends for help.

"I-it's t'pol john she, she is not well"

John frowned when he heard that, when trip had told him that he could handle the situation he had trusted him, glancing at john trip could tell that he was not happy with his words, but he wasn't judging him he was listening and ready to help, that is what friends did after all.

"What do you need trip"

"I need help from the Vulcan's sir"

Jonathan archer had seen and heard many things, he was a space ship captain for god shake but here was his chief engineer asking him to contact the Vulcan and request there help, closing his eyes archer felt a massive head ache coming, this was going to be a nightmare.

END PART I


End file.
